SEBI team helps Gurgaon cops in Citibank fraud case

A Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) team from Mumbai arrived in Gurgaon on Saturday to assist the city police in the Citibank fraud case.

In addition to SEBI, a five-member team from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also arrived on Saturday. They interacted with Gurgaon police and Citibank officials.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Cyber Crime Wing has been helping Gurgaon police, along with State Bank of India officials, in the case involving huge investment by corporate entities and high networth individuals (HNI).

The multi-crore scam involved transfer of money from the accounts of a Citibank relationship manager, Shivraj Puri, and his relatives to five brokerage companies.

Police sources said that the money deposited was transferred to brokerage companies Normans Martin, Religare, Okaya Power Limited, Bonanza, BG and India Infoline.

SS Deswal, Gurgaon police commissioner, said on Saturday that a two-member team from SEBI, Mumbai, joined the ongoing investigation in the city.

"Since the entire Citibank episode involved huge amounts of illegal money transfer from the accounts of Puri and his relatives into brokerage companies for buying equities and other financial instruments, the role of SEBI in the investigation is justified. Their presence will help us crack the riddle faster," Deswal said.

According to police officials, SEBI officials reached the commissioner's office and went through the data collected so far from Citibank and Puri's official laptop.

According to Deswal, SEBI officials will stay in Gurgaon for a few days and will get in touch with Citibank officials. They may also question Puri.